Despite the on-going mediation talks between Malawi and Tanzania over territorial dispute of Lake Malawi, the East African country is deploying three passenger and cargo ships on the lake.
However, the Malawi government says it does not know anything on this development as it is waiting for the chairperson of the high level mediation panel to communicate on the date of the next meeting.
Malawi and Tanzania have since 2012 been involved in a row over territorial ownership of the lake.
Malawi says it owns the whole lake while Tanzania says it owns half of the northern part of the lake.
A report in the East African newspaper published on April 23 quotes the Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) as saying the first 350-tonne passenger-cargo ship, which is part of a US$12.3 million project, will start operating on Lake Nyasa (as Lake Malawi is known in Tanzania) in August this year.
Itungi-Kyela port manager, Percival Salama told the publication that the project’s contractor, Songoro Marine Transport Ltd, is finalising construction of the passenger vessel.
Songoro said the ship is being constructed in Kyela, with technical assistance from ship building company APT Global Marine Services of Dubai. The multipurpose ship will have a capacity of 350 tonnes of cargo and 193 passengers.
The other two cargo barges with a capacity to carry 1,300 tonnes of cargo each will be constructed and commissioned between August and October 2017, according to the report.
But Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation spokesperson, Rejoice Shumba, said Malawi Government is not aware of this development.
“We have not been consulted in any way. We will confer with our mission in Tanzania to find out whether this is true or not,” she said.
She further said government is waiting for the date of the meeting to be set by the chairperson of the mediation panel, former president of Mozambique Joaquim Chissano.
“Malawi Government is continuously following up with the office of the chairperson of the mediation panel on the matter. We are still waiting for a communication from the former chairperson which is handling the matter,” Shumba said.
Lake Malawi is potentially rich in oil and gas.
Malawi and Tanzania have been at loggerheads over the border of the lake with the latter claiming ownership of a section of the northern part of Lake Malawi.
However, Lilongwe’s position is that no part of the section in question belongs to anyone else but the people of Malawi.
Malawi bases its ownership rights on the 1890 agreement between Britain, Malawi’s colonial master, and Germany.
In January this year, Tanzania claimed it had acquired from the United Nations “all important documents” which support its claim to ownership of a section of the northern part of Lake Malawi.
The border issue is said to have been standing since the era of Malawi’s founding president Hastings Kamuzu Banda.
But it gained currency when Malawi granted oil exploration rights to a British firm, Surestream, during late President Bingu wa Mutharika’s administration.
The matter was referred to Forum for Former African Heads of State which is chaired by Chissano.
In March 2014, both Malawi and Tanzania rejected the forum’s proposal for talks on resource sharing on Lake Malawi. This, according to the forum, was to be the first step in resolving the dispute between the two countries.
The two countries argued they needed the border issue dealt with first.
Tanzania’s deployment of ships follows another action that ruffled Lilongwe’s feathers when the East African country released a national map last year showing Tanzania stretching to the presumed border in Lake Malawi.
In reaction, Malawi sent a letter of protest over the map. Malawi insists it will pursue the mediation course to resolve the row.
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